Heir to The Magisterum
by LegaleVonArve
Summary: The fate of the world can sometimes be balanced on a knife's edge. What if during Harry Potter's Third year at Hogwarts, a Seventh year student forgot to put the proper safety measures in place? What if a wayward spell destroyed the hard work of a manipulative old man? Read and find out!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Heir to the Magisterum: Chapter 1: "Defence is for the Lazy..."

In the Gryffindor common room, Third Year Harry James Potter sat with his head cradled in his hands. He had just learned that Sirius Black had been his parents best friend. He also learned that Sirius Black had been the man to sell them out to Voldemort.

He had given Hermione and Ron the slip and made it back to the Gryffindor tower to be alone in his thoughts. Engrossed in thoughts, he threw his head back into the couch, just as an irritated Seventh Year yelled, "Finite!" His wand pointed at his Transfiguration homework.

The spell, however, missed and sailed across the Common room, only to hit Harry at such an angle that the part of the brain that is influenced by Compulsion Charms was the only one affected. Harry shot straight up, his eyes unfocused and moved to the stairs to his dorm.

He robotically climbed them, then moved to his trunk and grabbed his invisibility cloak, which he draped over himself. He then started to move to the third floor, terrified as his body was not responding to any signals he tried to send it. In fact, he was slowly fading in and out of conciousness.

The next thing Harry knew, he was sitting in a chair in a lavish office, facing two goblins that were staring at him with stunned expressions. On the desk, he saw a softly glowing crystal and a rune covered knife next to a basin filled what appeared to be blood, which had tendrils of magic flowing through it. The desk also had a weird hand-print, obviously for goblins, engraved in it.

He asked, "Where am I? How did I get here?" The goblins, finally seeming to get over their shock, started glancing at each other nervously and eventually the one on the left spoke up, "Well, Lord, some uh, confusion is to be expected, that is to say that we were surprised to learn of you heritage." Harry looked at him weirdly, "My heritage? What are you talking about?"

The goblin's eyes widened before his companion slapped the back of his head, "Idiot! We are talking to his other side!" he then turned to Harry and growled, "Master Potter. I am Slickknife and this fool besides me is Thunderclaw. We are what is known to goblins as Runemancers. The problem is that wizards should have absolutely no knowledge of us at all. So, as you can imagine, when you came up to one of our tellers under the influence of ancient magic and asked to speak to our most senior Runemancer, it caused a massive stir. You were dragged here in chains, and then you told us your story. It appears a wayward spell dislodged the compulsions and multiple other magics on you enough that your TRUE family's magic could take effect."

Harry took the moment the goblin took to draw breath to interject, "Wait, I have compulsions on me? And other spells? What does that mean?" The goblin's eyes glinted, and Harry knew by instinct that they are planning great mischief for someone. "It means, Master Potter, that you are going to have to die soon. It also means, we are going to have to kill you ourselves."

Harry went wide eyed and fumbled to draw his wand, unfortunately, the goblins were many times quicker. Chains covered in runes shot out of the chair and wrapped tightly around him, effectively keeping him pinned, completely unable to move. Slickknife calmly got up and walked to Harry's side. He lent down and whispered in his ear, dripping in sarcasm, "My apologies, _Master_ Potter."

His voice then took on a tone filled with hatred, "However know this. I feel no remorse doing this, after all you literally asked for it. Now, Thief of the Worst Possible Degree, you have my permission to pass out. Know that you will never live to see another sunrise."

1 hour earlier, Gringotts:

Harry slowly walked, unfocused on anything, up the marble steps, the golden doors effortlessly swinging open by themselves for him. He shuffled to the nearest free teller, all the goblins falling silent as they felt the familiar power dripping off the young wizard.

The green eyed boy eventually made it to the teller and lent down to whisper in his ear, "I have a distinct need to speak to Master Runemancer Slickknife. Can you take me to him?" The goblins eyes almost bulged out of his skull and he pounded the panic button under his desk repeatedly.

A squad of 10 goblin elite guard sprinted up to the teller's station, pikes pointing straight at the dark haired warlock, who calmly stuck his hands out, his eyes still not focusing on anything. Once he was clapped in irons, the teller hoarsely spoke, "Take us to Slickknife, immediately." He waved his hand over his Gringotts ledger, sending a message ahead to Slickknife.

They thundered through a multitude of corridors, eventually coming to a stop outside a rather bland looking door. When through, they were greeted with a goblin that was slightly taller than usual standing in the middle of a particularly lavish office. The green gremlin turned around and asked, "Now who is thi...?" his eyes widened as he felt the magic coming off the boy in chains. He waved his arms, screaming, "Get out! Take those chains off at once and get out!"

As the goblins scrambled to follow his orders, Slickknife whirled around and slammed his palm into the palm-print on his desk, shouting, "Thunderclaw! Get you excessively idiotic self in here with the Runic Blood kit!" He finally seemed to calm down as an unfocused Harry shuffled towards the chair opposite his desk and sat down. Completely at odds with how he looked, he spoke concisely, "Calm yourself, Master Slickknife. No goblin blood shall stain my hands today. There is only one person dying here in the foreseeable future. Forgive for not bowing, but my control over this body is tenuous at best."

Slickknife finally relaxed and asked, "So, Lord, which Division are you, as the Last Magister?" Harry replied, "The only fitting Division, don't you think? The one most feared throughout Wizarding History." Slickknife sucked in a breath and spoke tentatively, almost in reverence, "Zylander... I agree it is most fitting, Lord." The door to the office was thrown open as a hurried goblin rushed in. He was almost brown in colour, and was slightly shorter than Slickknife. He exclaimed excitedly, "Master Slickknife! I have brought it!"

He slid to a stop and bowed to Slickknife before putting down a rune covered basin and knife down on the desk with the hand-print. Slickknife nodded, then turned to Harry and bowed deeply, "My Lord. I can guess most of what has happened. If I may ask, could you please blood-link yourself to us, so more avenues are open to help you?" Harry sluggishly nodded, then raised his arm over the basin and requested, "If I may ask one of you to do it for me, as my control is so bad currently I might kill myself attempting the cut."

Thunderclaw moved to pick up the Runic knife and made a small cut on Harry's arm, chanting in Gobblydook. From the small cut blood flowed freely into the basin, filling it to the brim and activating all the Runes covering it. Once the basin was fill, the cut on Harry healed itself. He turned slowly to the goblins and said, "Please, both of you, take a seat. As I have just revitalised the entire Runemancer Corps, I believe you owe me a favour. So I ask that you listen to my story, and please grant my request."

Both goblins moved to the chairs and took a seat. Once everyone was seated, Harry's mouth opened again, "As you know, my family magic should have activated when I was at the age of ten, granting me knowledge of my ancestry and its place in Wizarding history. That, rather obviously, did not happen. The best I could figure, Dumbledore, in his infinite wisdom decided he would rather have a puppet then an apprentice. As you also no doubt know, changing someone's entire personality is folly to attempt and impossible for modern magic. So, he decided to place compulsions, triggered thoughts and a suppression charm aimed at me. This, as well of granting him an obedient puppet, also split my personality straight down the middle. On one side, we have Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, the idiotic puppet. On the other hand, we have Hadrian Zylander, Last Heir to the Magisterum. All I ask is that you grant me the life that has been stolen from me and kill my other personality."

Slickknife stood and started to bow, then he glared at Thunderclaw until he scrambled to his feet too. Then both goblins bowed to him deeply and intoned, "We would be honoured Master Zylander." The newly named Hadrian Zylander bid them to rise, then stated, "You know what to do, Master Slickknife, Apprentice Thunderclaw. My other side is wakening."

Present Time, Slickknife's Office:

Thunderclaw looked at Slickknife, shocked that he was actually going to grant the humans request and not just slit the boys throat. Slickknife started speaking before his thought could progress further, "This is a A class secret. If it leaves this room you know the punishment." At his level gaze, Thunderclaw quickly nodded. "Goblins, regrettably, are incapable of drawing and charging runes."

Thunderclaw gasped and was about to argue before Slickknife elaborated, "At least, that used to be true. An ancient country, The Magisterum, struck a deal with the Goblin Nations. The terms of the deal were threefold: The first term was that the warring goblin clans united under one banner. A tournament was held, where the representatives for Gringotts won, thus all the clans united behind the Gringotts clan. The second term was that all goblins were never to declare war against the Magisterum, which we have proudly upheld for seven hundred years. This also the reason we had to delay war preparations against the Wizards in the Fourth War, as we had to be sure the Magisterum were not allied to the wizards, which they thankfully weren't. The third term is that if any denizen of the Magisterum seeks us out, and honestly requires assistance, we are to aid them any way we can. This is the first time in three centuries that this term has to be used."

Thunderclaw was confused and so tried to gain greater understanding, "That contract seems heavily weighted on the side of the Magisterum. In fact, the only term that makes any kind of positive impact on us is the first."

Slickknife nodded appreciatively, "You might not be as stupid as I thought. No, in return for these boons, the Magisterum offered two great gifts, which are still in use today. The first is the right to mine their lands for the astounding amount of gold and gems that lie there, having to only give them a 5% tithe for the use of the mines. The second, the one that really sealed the deal for our predecessors, was the gift of Runic magic, tied to the Hearth Stone in the deepest part of our Nation. The Rune Mages of the Magisterum, with an incredible amount of skill, craved the Hearth Stone out of pure magic, and lowered it into the Cradle of Goblin kind. The magic suffusing our entire race, giving us power over runes, making us the best Runemancers and enchanters in the world, second only to The Rune Mages of the Magisterum, who refused to sell their trade."

Slickknife then put his hands on Harry's temples saying, "Now you are going to help me free Lord Zylander, or I will kill you for breech of contract. Put your hands like this and flow Rune magic into them. I will do all the actual work." Thunderclaw obediently and without hesitation did what he was told. Immediately as his palms made contact, a circle of pure energy emanated out of the warlocks skull. Inside the circle there were 7 more circles made purely out of runes spinning slowly. In the centre of all the circles there was the slowly revolving rune scheme for control. Slickknife waved his hand and a message came up in the circle, _Master Slickknife, though I seem to be able to understand some of this scheme, until I can get to the Mage's Vault, my understanding is somewhat limited. However, my family magic wishes me to inform you, "Inverted, uncomplicated base 7 scheme." _

Slickknife blinked and was staring at the ward scheme again. He grinned viciously and jabbed his finger into the innermost circle, scribbling runes under all the other ones. Seven circles later, he added a rune stream to connect all the runes he had written together. He nodded to Thunderclaw and stated, "That should do it. All the compulsions should collapse and the Lord's magic should rip the rest of the spells away."

Thunderclaw nodded back and removed his hands. Slickknife flattened his hand and shouted in Gobblydook, then slammed his palm on Harry's forehead, destroying the Horcrux unknowingly. Harry's body jolted as if shocked severely, then relaxed. He rested in that position for several seconds, before Hadrian Zylander opened his eyes.


	2. History and an Old Man's Gerbils

AN: Well, the response for this story has been rather large and surprisingly, most of it has even been very positive! While I thank everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed, there are other people I need to thank, those being the ones who did not enjoy the fact that unfortunately, Harry had to die and instead of leaving a negative comment on my story concept, simply pressed the back button and went to find something else to read!

I want to make something clear before we proceed though, I do not hate Harry Potter as a character. His character would simply just not work in this story's universe without a serious, inexplicable character change. He would not work for one reason, _he hides from his fame._ I cannot picture someone who does that leading a nation, let alone one like the Magisterum. Now, on with the story!

PS: Internet cookie to rmiser1994, for giving the review that made me feel the most smug about my myself!

Chapter 2: "...Offence is for the Predictable."

Hadrian surveyed the two nervously fidgeting goblins. He eventually stood up, making both goblins wince, before surprising them by dropping into a deep bow intoning as he did so, "Amazing work honoured Runemancers. Allow me to properly introduce myself to the two of you. I am Hadrian Zylander, the current Zan of all of the Magisterum."

Thunderclaw stupidly asked, "What's a Zan?" before getting viciously elbowed by Slickknife, who then bowed towards Hadrian, "You honour us beyond words, Lord Zylander. We are pleased the great nation of the Magisterum has a rightful leader once again. Do you have any further use for the Goblin Nation today?"

Hadrian inclined his head in thought after straightening out of his bow. "Actually there are several things I need done. However, before any other things can be be completed, I need to get to the Mage's Vault. Assistant Thunderclaw, a Zan is the leader of the entire Magisterum, of which I am the last human member."

Slickknife raised from his bow, "Are you sure you don't want to do anything else, My Lord? I know the King would like to be informed of your presence." Hadrian dismissively waved a hand at them, "You and I both know the King is nothing but a front for the real heavy players. In fact, thanks to Magisterum magic, I know who really leads the goblin nations. And that person is..."

Both goblins held their breath as Harry slowly curled his hand and pointed an accusing finger directly at Slickknife, who winced, "...You." Slickknife covered his face with his right hand and muttered, "Of course. The damned connection to the Hearth Stone. I guess it was too much to hope for that all our deepest secrets would not be revealed within all of five seconds this time as well."

Hadrian smirked at him and replied, "Naturally. There is a reason the Wizarding world had to band together to "destroy" us. But that is besides the point. I need to get to that vault as soon as possible." The goblins nodded and took him to Slickknife's personal cart, which amused him greatly to be treated with such reverence. They eventually reached the "First and Last tier of Gringotts" and stood facing two doors on either side.

One was finely polished, obviously in good upkeep, but signs that showed its age were still there, if you knew where to look. The other was shining as if it was just built. It was the latter to which Hadrian walked. He drew his wand, pointed it at his thumb and called out, "Diffindo!" to which there was no reaction.

He glared at the holly wand before casting it again, this time pouring considerably more power into the spell. This time a trickle of blood appeared on his thumb, which he hastily wiped on the doors, calling, "I am Hadrian Zylander, last Heir to the Magisterum and I view myself worthy of your blessing." The doors then swung open slowly.

Hadrian shrugged, expecting something bigger to happen, before carelessly snapping the holly wand in half and lazily tossing it aside, then walking into the vault leaving the goblins outside while they respectfully waited for him to conclude his business. Hadrian looked forwards into the vault and seeing the large amounts of artefacts, gold, magical animal pelts and gems the vault contained.

The Zylander crest was glowing faintly on the back wall of the vault, a cats eye with the name of the current Zan in runic writing in the pupil. Obviously, as he had not yet set foot in the Magisterum, the pupil was empty.

Inside the vault and after the doors closed, a swirling nexus of purple energy appeared, moving around chaotically until solidifying into the ethereal form of a strikingly beautiful woman. As everything was shaded purple, it was impossible to tell what colour her hair or eyes were, only that she was wearing an elegant dress that flowed perfectly around her form.

She stood a head taller than Hadrian, and had a body that was in league with the likes of the great beauties of history, such as Helen of Troy. She spoke in a voice that screamed of wisdom, "What does the young master wish of me? It has been many decades since I was last called into this world."

Hadrian told her, "I have been prevented from having three years of knowledge that is rightfully mine. I ask you to show me a way to learn our family's craft up to or maybe a bit beyond what I should know for my age." The spectre nodded slowly,

"I sense you are the last of us among the living. As such, you will have access to all our knowledge. However, you will have to use Occlumancy to access it as this knowledge is too much to be revealed all at once, your mind could not take the strain. First, I shall unlock your natural talents that we are known for, but you have to prove your connection to our Family Magic before I will do anything. As you know, the Family Magic only supplies the very basics of Magisterum history, and the entirety of the Magisterum language, known as Toka. The only other benefits for having the Family magic is the location of Gringotts, how to get into this vault and the ability to know what type of Runic magic you are seeing when you see it."

Hadrian nodded, "Very well. Ask the question, the one that has never left our family's knowledge." The spirit smiled and asked in a light voice, "What, young Zylander, is my name?" Hadrian smirked and answered easily,

"You are the greatest accomplishment that Zylander blood ever managed to make. You are a magical runic construct, the manifestation of the personality and knowledge of the wife of the man that first started the Zylander Family, whose name has been lost to time. You are the guardian of our worldly treasures, and the one to teach us when we have no one else to turn to. As all your duties are beautiful, you were named after the moon, the one thing the Wife found beauty in above everything else. Your name is... Lumen!"

Lumen nodded and smiled at the last of her descendants. She remembered all about the Zylander line, after all, she would not be a very good carrier of Family Magic if she was unable to keep up with current events. The Zylander line started with her and her husband, somewhere in the 800s.

They were brought together by a arranged marriage, as was the norm in those days, but were thankfully in love. Her husband possessed an incredible gift, one that was unheard of in those times. Aside from an instinctive grasp of runic magic, he was also able to convert any rune array he touched into a copy made out of magic, without either array losing any effects.

They found out that their children could preform the same feat and realised the gift could pass to others. Just after they, their children, and grand-children decided to try find others with this gift, she fell ill with a incurable disease. Her husband used all his skill, and all his magic to create a indestructible runic array, which then absorbed her conciousness, using her husbands life as a sacrifice. He died to ensure a part of his wife lived forever.

Lumen fell into grief, and it took twenty years for her to recover, from which point she dedicated herself to the well being of her family, even though she was now slightly different to the woman she used to be. As she recalled her history, she realised the impossibility of Hadrian existing. She resolved to ask him, as maybe his connection to the Family Magic, which was self updating, would allow him to answer.

She questioned the young Heir, "How are you alive? I was certain the Magisterum was destroyed and forgotten to history five centuries ago." Hadrian explained, "There was a vial of Zylander blood left for the last possible descendent of our family. It was the red vial over here." He led her to a pedestal at the very back of the vault.

It was covered head to toe in Runic writings that glowed a faint red, a sure sign of blood magic. "The vial would shatter and and create the spark of life. The Magisterum magics on the pedestal would then take over and create a blood link towards a uterus and reigniting the magic for the Heir of the Magisterum. My ancestors poured a considerably large amount of magic into this. So much in fact, that they became squibs. They then took up the name of Evans and disappeared into the Muggle world. My mother was from that line, and Dumbledore and James Potter found the immense amount of power that her offspring would hold. Even though I was a product of rape and love potions, my mother still loved me enough to activate her latent Zylander magic allowing herself to be a willing sacrifice to ensure I lived. That is what saved me from the Killing Curse."

Lumen nodded, surprised once more at the ingenuity of her amazing family. She asked, "You are thirteen now. Why did you not arrive at your tenth birthday?" Hadrian looked at her and she could see that this young man in front of her had been keeping a lot of emotions bottled up for too long a time.

When he spoke, his voice cracked from the strain, "Dumbledore found me... He placed a mishmash of Compulsion and Loyalty charms, magic suppressors, intelligence dampeners and back doors into my mind. My magic intervened the only way it could, it broke my mind into two... One grew as Harry Potter, the lapdog... The other is me..."

He fell to his knees, and Lumen moved to comfort him with her semi-corporeal form. She hugged her arms around him and drew him close. Although he could barely feel her, he still drew comfort from the embrace. Now that the gate of emotion had been opened, there was no way for him to stem the tide. "It w-was... Horrible... I was w-watching my b-body... I c-could do nothing, but was forced to watch my life... As if I was watching through someone else's eyes..."

The tears were pouring freely now, as the horror and completely terrible caged feeling he had felt his entire life caught up to him. Lumen stroked the poor boy's back, wishing she was more corpreal, or had a more adequate way of comforting her heir. Lumen held him until he had finally spent all the excess emotion.

Hadrian shuddered as he relived the torture he had endured ever since he could remember. He eventually collapsed from exhaustion and was barely held up by Lumen, who laid him on one of the Magical creature pelts in the room. She wiped the tears from his face, and bent down to kiss his forehead, whispering, "Welcome back, My Lord."

Hogwarts Great Hall:

Dumbledore looked over the dinner tables worriedly, wondering where a certain green eyed puppet of his had gone off to. Just as he swept his eyes of the Gryffindor table once more, noticing Harry's two friends looking all over in worry, the doors to the Great Hall flew open so fast they bounced off the walls.

In strode a tall Goblin, with Harry following him. As she caught sight of him, Hermione shouted his name and stood up, only to be stopped by glare he sent her. Once they reached the end of the hall, the goblin turned around and so did Hadrian. The goblin looked over the assembled students and drew a deep breath then said, "I am Master Slickknife. I was brought here today to inform you all The Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter, has died."

This, predictably enough, caused an uproar. The students all shot to their feet shouting, with many, "What the hell are you talking about?"s and "He's right there!"s. Dumbledore stood, and asked, "Harry my dear boy, what is the meaning of this? Why is this goblin proclaiming such an outrageous thing?" Hadrian was saved from answering when Slickknife raised his hand and created a magic bang, trying to get everyone's attention.

Slickknife cleared his throat and sent a death glare at the student body in general. A few of them shuddered, as even if you are not the focus, a goblin's death glare is quite formidable. Then Slickknife said, "Yes as I said, Harry Potter, or at least the artificial personality construct you called Harry Potter" Here, Dumbledore paled rather impressively,

"...died today. Wizards," He paused, letting the utter disgust with which he said the word 'Wizards" sink in, "I am here to inform the world in a public place, as your ridiculous treaty stipulates, in accordance to Section 12: Allegiances and The Declaration or Renewal of Such Allegiances, that a new Zan to the Magisterum, which I am sure some of you remember, has been found. It is the Goblin Nation's duty to announce at this time our allegiance to Hadrian Zylander!"

Dumbledore intervened very quickly, looked understandably panicked as he did so, "Harry, my dear boy, a lot has obviously happened today, why don't we discuss this in my office?" Hadrian did give him the courtesy of looking at him when he spoke, but did not say a word.

Dumbledore looked confused, "Harry, did you hear what I said?" Hadrian continued to look at him, enjoying the meagre revenge on the man. He, along with Lumen, decided that while Dumbledore would die, preferably in the most painful, humiliating and horrific way possible, it would be unwise to attack such a major player in the Magical world so early and with so few allies.

By now, Dumbledore was growing increasingly angry, even though it was well hidden behind experience and Occlumancy. He tried again, "Harry?" Professor McGonagall looked over her spectacles at Harry, not amused at the disrespect he was giving Dumbledore. She said sternly from behind Dumbledore, "Mr. Potter, please address Professor Dumbledore when he is speaking to you."

Hadrian looked Professor McGonagall directly in the eye, something he had refused to do to Dumbledore. He raised an eyebrow and calmly asked, "Who are you both talking to?" Dumbledore and McGonagall looked utterly confused before Hadrian continued, "There is currently no one in this Hall who answers to either the name Harry, or the name Potter."

Dumbledore closed his eyes, realising that this was going to be a lot more difficult than he had anticipated. He opened them, full twinkle on, wanting to catch Hadrian in his gaze, only to be foiled as the Zan swiftly looked away. He then said, "Very well... Hadrian, why don't we discuss recent events in my office?"

This sentence finally gained a reaction out of Hadrian, where he turned and shot a glare at Dumbledore still being sure to look at the man's neck, and not into his eyes. Hadrian stated while watching the gerbils that ran around the other man's garments frolic near his throat, "Headmaster Dumbledore, I do not recall giving you leave to address me by my first name. I ask that you refer to me as Lord Zylander or My Zan, until such time that I feel comfortable otherwise."

Dumbledore stood still and the two engaged in a battle of wills. Dumbledore was the first to give, as he had no idea how much Hadrian knew, only that it was obviously enough to be constantly on guard around him. "Very well, Lord Zylander. If you would accompany me to my office." He then swiftly lead the way out of the hall, the rest of the school staring after them in stunned silence, only to be broken by Ronald Weasley's shout of, "What the bloody hell just happened?"


	3. Clashing Wills and Colours

**AN: Well, in a miracle of human psychology, the positive response to this story has lit a fire under my ass to get more chapters done more quickly. As such, I do not believe I will be able to keep this rate of writing up without burning out, so this is the last chapter of the "writing spree"**

**PS: The frequent mention of gerbils is a direct shout out to Anonymous56's Fanfic, Control. I am pretty certain the author is dead, as he has not updated in three years. However, the gerbil gag will disappear after this chapter.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and quite frankly I don't want to after that seventh book. Although I would not mind owning Luna Lovegood, nudge nudge wink wink.

Chapter 3: Clashing Wills and Colours.

Magic. Now that is a funny word to describe a very indescribable thing. Without direction, magic can do almost anything and everything, with no way to anticipate what it would do or not do, next. In fact, Wild Magic, or in this case, Passive Magic, will often do the very opposite of what you would expect it to do.

However, every Magical Creature, and to a lesser degree, every non-magical creature, effects all other magic around them. Every Magical Creature also has a field of magic around them, that they can train to detect changes in, but not be able to control. This field is a field of what is called Passive Magic.

Now, when two Magical Creatures come close to each other, it is inevitable that these Creature's Passive Magic fields would interact with each other. The logical conclusion being that the stronger field would overpower and reduce the other field in size and power. However, as stated earlier, Passive Magic often reacts in the exact opposite way to what you may expect.

The end result being that an infinite number of fields cam simultaneously exist in the exact same place. The fields overlap, barely interacting with the others, but this does create a very peculiar 'ripple' effect in both of these fields. Obviously, the stronger a field is, the easier it is to feel its ripple. This is almost the magical equivalent of sonar.

Unfortunately, it takes being extremely in tune with one's own Magical core and Passive field to even be able to pick up the largest of these subtle ripples. Albus Dumbledore has had over 150 years to be in tune with his own magic, and is therefore somewhat of an expert in detecting the ripples in his own field.

This is how, when he was walking up the Grand Staircase of Hogwarts, he realised something was slightly off about the magical field around him. He turned around and was mildly surprised to find the strange goblin still standing alongside Hadrian, both of them looking at him questioningly. He was rather annoyed, as he needed Hadrian alone if he was going to have any chance of fixing whatever went wrong in his plan.

He decided he needed to try and get Hadrian to separate from his goblin. "Ha... Lord Zylander, I was under the impression that I asked you to speak to me privately in my office." Hadrian kept his gaze on Dumbledore's chest, wondering if the reason he decided to put yellow magical gerbils on purple robes was to make the colours clash so spectacularly that it made it painful not to look the man in the eye.

He replied, "Headmaster, I have asked Slickknife to accompany me everywhere on this visit to the castle as I fear for my safety and his entire Nation just publicly announced their allegiance to me, making him the the best candidate to ensure fair play in our dealings, at least in my perspective."

Dumbledore looked at Slickknife, who stared him right back in the eye, grinning maliciously, as if daring Dumbledore to attempt Legilimancy. He shook his head, as he adopted his disappointed grand-father persona. "My dear boy, do you not trust me?"

Hadrian continued to glare at the other man's chest, pondering his chances of ripping the old sorcerer's heart out before he could stop him and whether the gerbils would slow him down or not. He opted instead to engage in a verbal thrust. "I am surprised you actually have the gall to ask me that Headmaster, as the last time we were alone in a room together I left with enough magic in my mind to destroy London."

Dumbledore flinched, appalled that Hadrian actually knew it was him who cast those spells. He raged inside his head, realising that he had absolutely no chance to gain any trust back, even if he only wanted it to be able to recast the spells, or Obliviate the fact he was ever Hadrian Zylander straight out of Harry's head.

He decided to do nothing for now, hoping that either Hadrian or his goblin ally made a slip up in the discussion of recent events. What he was unaware of, was that Hadrian had a connection to Lumen, who had been playing the game of politics longer than he had been alive. However the connection was not real-time, so Hadrian had to follow Lumen's advice of 'be decisive and resolute, don't give any ground, but don't be overly aggressive.'

They made their way through the castle in silence, going through the gargoyle to the Headmaster's office after giving the password (Skittles). Dumbledore sat behind his desk and out of habit offered both people in his office a Lemon Drop. Hadrian took one, and gave it to Slickknife, who put it in a yellow covered Gringotts evidence bag to which Dumbledore winced slightly.

Hadrian and Slickknife continued to stand. Dumbledore looked over his half moon spectacles at Hadrian who once again evaded his gaze. Dumbledore waited for Hadrian to start talking but realised the young man was perfectly comfortable with the silence. He decided to attack this from the one position of authority over him that Hadrian admitted Dumbledore to having.

"Lord Zylander, why did you illegally leave school ground when you don't have permission to even go to Hogsmead?" Hadrian raised an eyebrow. _Hmm, Dumbledore you clever bastard. You want to play the rules game? Fine. _He replied in a calm tone, not betraying any of his thoughts, "My Family Magic found a way to activate and forced me to travel to Gringotts Headmaster. As it was a Family matter, Hogwarts could not interfere."

The Headmaster frowned, _Thwarted, damn. _"Lord Zylander, for what reason did your Family Magic bring you to Gringotts?" Here Slickknife decided to intervene, "I believe I should answer that, Dumbledore. Zan Zylander came to Gringotts to ask for help, which the Goblin Nation provided. He then visited his family vault and decided to stay for legal advice."

Dumbledore's eyes narrowed and Hadrian decided to get to the thrust of why he was here and not already in Magisterum land. "Headmaster Dumbledore. I am here for two reasons, on of which is to bring charges against you."

"Charges of what, Lord Zylander?" Asked Dumbledore in a desperate attempt of gain traction. Hadrian replied, "Charges of these, Headmaster." He then reached into his robes and pulled out a piece of parchment. "As I read out your crimes, Slickknife will say how they can be punished by Goblin Law."

"Infraction One: The use 237 compulsion charms keyed to different events" Slickknife stated here, "Decapitation" Hadrian continued, "Infraction Two: The use of 20 different intelligence dampeners, enough to reduce the victim's IQ by 70 points" Slickknife interjected again, "Disembowelment, then decapitation." Then Hadrian decided to finish this up quickly, "Infractions Three to Five: The use of 10 Magical Blocks, the use of 10 Loyalty Charms, all tied to you, and the placement of 5 different easy points of access into my mind."

Slickknife grinned his trademark malicious grin and said, "Emasculation, leaving to hang by ankles for three days, disembowelment and then finally decapitation." By now Dumbledore was fingering his wand, pondering the benefits and negatives of engaging the Goblin mage in combat, only to be relaxed by Hadrian stating, "Unfortunately, you did not commit these atrocities on Goblin Land, so I will have to prosecute you by Wizarding Law."

Slickknife then took a parchment out of his suit pocket, cleared his throat for effect, out of habit, then said, "The interference of a Heir to an Ancient Family, a fine of 2000 galleons to the offended party. Illegally gaining the loyalty of a Heir to an Ancient Family, a fine of 5000 galleons to the injured party. Interference in the life outside of school of a magical minor, 3000 galleons and finally interference in the mind of a minor for an extended period of time, 10000 galleons or 2 years in Azkaban."

The Goblin then looked at Dumbledore like he was a speck of dust on an otherwise spotless room. "We expect 20000 galleons to be deposited into Zan Zylander's vault by the end of the week or we will press for 4 years in Azkaban." He then nodded to Hadrian, who stated, "Now that that piece of unpleasantness in out of the way, I will move on to the second reason I have come here, if Headmaster Dumbledore has no questions?"

**Great Hall, Hogwarts:**

Chaos. That was the only way to describe how the once peaceful dinner now looked. Siblings were running to the older ones, friends were talking animatedly to each other and students were racing off the Owlery to let their families and the press know the news.

Some were trying to figure out just what exactly the Magisterum was, others were wondering what the hell a Zan was, some were trying to figure out what exactly that goblin meant about Harry Potter being dead. The well educated Pure-blood children, however, knew the answer to most of those questions, and were wondering about a far more worrying aspect of what happen minutes earlier, namely why did the Goblin Nation swear allegiance to a _human, _and how the _hell_ did said human get a Goblin to act as his body guard?!

Hermione watched all this chaos and whispered, "Harry, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" The peculiar thing was, no one noticed a second year Ravenclaw calmly finish her dinner and leave, her blond hair trailing almost sadly behind her.

**Dumbledore's Office, Hogwarts**

"Lord Zylander, I have no questions, but I am glad that we can now put this business behind us." Dumbledore's face was smiling, but behind it he raged, "_I need that money for the Order once Voldemort gets back! Damn you Goblin, you left me no way to defend myself! _For Dumbledore had no doubt this entire plan was the goblin's doing.

He realised that he just needed to be patient until the goblin left, after all, it was not as if Hadrian could get any more leverage before he was Oblieviated. An assumption that would be brutally torn to sherds in the next few seconds however, as Hadrian then said, "Yes, well, the second reason I am here is to ask that you agree to the founders promise of 1067CE, that they swore when the Magisterum allowed Hogwarts to exist."

Dumbledore was stunned, "The Magisterum 'allowed' Hogwarts to exist?!" Hadrian nodded, enjoying another piece of petty revenge, "The Founders, while spectacular Magi, did simply not have the skill or power to create Hogwarts, or more specifically, the wards of Hogwarts. This was a Zylander fortress, that we allowed the founders to turn into a school. However, we reserved the right to use this fortress as our Embassy in Magical Briton."

Dumbledore was stunned, and it showed in his voice, "You want to turn this school into an Embassy?" Hadrian shook his head, stating, "No, you may still use it as a school, however, I want the rights to use the Ambassador's suite in the South Wing, and the Ambassador's table in the Great Hall."

Dumbledore decided this was a point he could not let slide, "And what would happen if I were to refuse, Lord Zylander?" Hadrian smiled, "I walk out this castle and you never see me again. However, know this, Zylander blood is contained in these walls, and the defences are powered by it. If I leave, I will take the wards with me. Either way, I refuse to be a student in this school."

Dumbledore almost growled at the boy. He knew he was not lying, as he would be able to pick it up, proven by the fact the boy refused to meet his gaze. "...Very well. You may use Hogwarts as your embassy. Now, if there is nothing else, you have given me a lot of things to think about." He tried to show the young man the door, as he needed to think up a way to bring back under his thumb.

Hadrian once again stopped Dumbledore's momentum by saying, "Actually, there is one last thing. As Ambassador to the Magisterum, would you allow me to sit in on any lesson that goes on the castle at my choosing?" Dumbledore rejoiced at the chance to hold something over the other mage's head.

"Why would I allow that, Lord Zylander?" Hadrian however, had already thought several steps ahead. "Headmaster, I ask because as Ambassador, there may be times where I am asked about the state of education in Magical Briton and it would leave me at a disadvantage to be uninformed."

Dumbledore screamed in his head at the way Hadrian phrased that. It was phrased as a formal request from an Ambassador of another Nation. With a member of a third Nation in the room, it would be political suicide to refuse Hadrian's request, simply because there was no legitimate reason to do so. If he did, the Goblin Nation would back Hadrian's appeal to the ICW to have the decision overturned, bringing bad press on Briton.

Dumbledore sighed heavily, "Very well, Lord Zylander, your request is granted." Hadrian bowed an left the room, the Goblin following but being sure to be between Hadrian and Dumbledore at all times. It was with a start that Dumbledore realised that he had been so focused on Hadrian, that he did not notice that the goblin had been acting like a body guard the entire time.

**Hogwarts corridors:**

Outside of Dumbledore's office, the two started to head on the path they thought most likely to get them to the Ambassador's suite. While the walked, Slickknife remarked, "Well that went well. I thought he would offer more resistance." Hadrian shook his head, "He is so used to having all the knowledge and holding all the cards, that when he doesn't, he responds by being overly cautious. However, if he called me 'My dear boy' on more time, I would have probably lost my temper."

Slickknife voiced his agreement, "I would have helped you kill him, Lord Zylander, just on principle. Besides, those gerbils looked very appetizing." Hadrian stared at the Goblin, who licked his lips. He then shook his head as the Goblin broke out into laughter. "Come on Slickknife, we have many things to discuss."

Once they reached the entrance to the Ambassador's suite, they came across a painting of a banquet, but if you looked carefully, you could see the crest of the Zylander Family. Hadrian put his hand on the painting and said clearly, "Defensionem est piger, Offensa est enim praedictio." Slickknife looked at him an asked, "What does that Latin phrase mean?" Hadrian just replied with, "Family motto."

the portrait rippled like water, then went back to exactly the way it was. Hadrian nodded then walked through into the Ambassador's Suite. A small lounge was the first thing he saw. It was decorated tastefully, black cushioned furniture fit for royalty, with dark purple tapestries spread around the room, all adorned with the Zylander Crest, which now had Hadrian's name emblazoned on it in golden runic writing.

The room was furnished with a fireplace, runically operated. It also had two couches, a two-seater and a lavish throne spaced around a large table. It was to one of the couches Hadrian sat down on, then motioned Slickknife to sit on the other. Slickknife did so, looking slightly apprehensive. He spoke out his worries, "My Zan, as this is technically your domain, should you not seat yourself on the throne?"

Hadrian laughed and replied, "Slickknife, that throne is very obnoxious, I shall make use of it for formal meetings, but when I am among friends, I would prefer to be comfortable, rather then have my status appealed to." Slickknife nodded, then asked, "My Zan, why did you accompany Dumbledore to his office? Why did you not merely discredit him in the most public setting possible?"

Hadrian considered the question carefully and responded when his thoughts were in order, "Well, as you are a goblin, I can see how you would believe that course of action would be the most prudent. I did that because I do not want to publicly go against Dumbledore, at least not until I know the exact state the Magisterum is in. The Magisterum has many enemies amongst the British wizarding population, an unknown number of them. I am banking on the fact that this will be all over the papers tomorrow, but with one crucial factor missing."

"Which is?" Hadrian smiled a devious smile, "What Dumbledore and I talked about in his office." Slickknife looked confused, so Hadrian explained, "While a lot of the ancient families hate the Magisterum, many of those families either follow or respect Dumbledore. With no-one having knowledge of what we spoke about in that room, added to the fact that I will be staying in the castle until the Yule holidays, it will look like Dumbledore either allied himself with us, or is at least sympathetic to our cause. With many people thinking that is case, if I stay close to Dumbledore, not many would be bold enough to try anything."

Slickknife smiled in appreciation of the new Zan's guile. There was one thing bothering him though, the safety of Hadrian. "My Zan, while it is a truly cunning plan, Dumbledore is still a major problem, I do not like the fact that someone with malicious intent towards you will have such easy access to your person."

Hadrian nodded, "That is a big problem, and to rectify it I need to do something I was hesitant to do. I must call on your Nation's aid once more. I will need one extra pair of eyes to help watch against Dumbledore and if they can help me with runic projects that be even more helpful. I can only think that a Goblin would be able to do this job."

Slickknife agreed, and decided to come clean with his thoughts, "My Zan, I was actually hoping to convince you to decide that, as I already have a body guard in mind for you." Hadrian just smiled at the Goblin, deciding that the gremlin would probably be one of the greatest allies he could hope for.

That smile turned into a frown, as he realised that Goblins were not exempt from the flaws of any society. He asked, "How can you be sure of this person's integrity? How do you know they don't have a price that Dumbledore can name?"

Slickknife smiled, not expecting his Zan to be so concerned over own safety, concerned enough that he could ask a trusted ally such a difficult question. He stated, "I have full trust in the personality of the Goblin, and even though this Goblin has not preformed work like this ever before, I am certain of the chance for success. After all, I should know her best as she is my daughter, Zan Zylander."


End file.
